I've been accepted onto a CELTA course at IH Paris in August and I'm hoping to find work thereafter. I'm a native speaker (British) with a first degree. I don't speak French although I'm very keen to learn.

To be honest I'm kinda concerned about my chances of finding work. Having just spent some time in Madrid I have the impression that I'd have no trouble finding work there given the sheer number of language schools around but in Paris I just don't think it will be that easy.

Does anyone have experience of doing their CELTA with IH Paris and can anyone advise me on how easy or otherwise it will be to find work? Do IH tend to employ their CELTA graduates as other schools do?

I think there were about 15 of us on the course, and one got employed by IH afterwards (though I only know of two for sure that definitely applied there...others got jobs elsewhere quite quickly, or else weren't looking for work in Paris)

Your British, you will have CELTA and you have a degree. Thus you won't have a problem finding employment as an English teacher in Paris. The problem could be finding *enough* work. Most schools here employ English teachers on a minimum-number-of-hours-per-year basis (around 800) which doesn't equate to full time work. If demand (generally, and at your school) is high, you could end up teaching 30 hours+ some weeks. However, inevitably there will be times when demand is low, and you may only get a few hours per week during these times. Regardless, it'll probably round out to more than 800 hours per year, but not necessarily a *lot* more.

To give you an idea, I started work last September on a CDII (typical contract given by all language schools in Paris, and *not* the same as a CDI contract) contract guaranteed 800 hours per year. September - mid December was crazy busy, and I always taught at least 25 hours per week. However, January - March suddenly demand drastically dipped and some weeks I only teaching 9 or 10 hours. April - now has been really variable, a few weeks I've taught 25 hours+, others more like 17.

From the mid July until early September, traditionally demand is practically dead. Everyone goes on holiday thus no-one is around to take English lessons, thus you'll hardly work at all.

Pay is typically around 17 - 19 euros per hour gross. After tax deductions at source, this works out at somewhere around 13-15 per hour euros net.

In the standard contract, you are paid per hour of teaching time, and you are not paid again for the time you spend planning or travelling. For example, if your gross hourly wage is 18 euros, it is written in your contract that this represents in theory 80% teaching time and 20% planning/travelling time. So if you teach 20 hours in a week, and spend a further 7 hours travelling and planning, you'll earn 18 euros gross x 20 hours teaching = 360 euros (gross).

(Sidenote: as I understand it, IH represents one of the rare exceptions to this type of employment contract in language schools in Paris. I believe they employ their teachers on a salaried basis, ie they pay teachers a fixed amount per month based on the fact they can guarantee full time work. *But* I think thereafter they work you quite hard, time off is a lot less flexible and teaching standards there are very high, ie you really earn your salary!)

What else...oh yes, FUSAC (www.fusac.fr) is a good place to look for jobs. I found a job three days after finishing my CELTA course, by going door-to-door round millions of language schools in Paris with my CV.

My experience at IH doing CELTA was a very positive one, and even though it's hard to make ends meet financially thereafter as an English teacher in Paris, it's definitely possible (hundreds of people do it) and I have to say that I really like the work.